Ethylnitrosourea-induced gliomas: a song in the attic?

Abstract

It is essential to seek the underlying molecular mechanisms of glioma development, and critical to discover interventions that reduce the incidence and attenuate the growth of gliomas using a well-established in vivo experimental model because glioma is clinically one of the most difficult malignant tumors to treat. Ethylnitrosourea (ENU)-induced glioma in the rat has been extensively utilized as an experimental brain tumor model since the mid-1960s, however, the scientific value of ENU-induced glioma has been underappreciated mainly due to the recent development of transgenic mouse glioma models. Because of the pathophysiological characteristics, which are similar to the high grade human malignant gliomas, ENU-induced glioma is an excellent in vivo model to: a) examine the cell origin, development, and pathophysiology of gliomas; b) investigate anti-tumor effects of calorie restriction (CR) and its underlying mechanisms; and c) discover new preventive and/or therapeutic interventions of glioma. Further exploration of genetic changes during initiation, malignant transformation of glial cells, and progression of glioma as well as CR’s anti-tumor effects on cellular processes using cutting edge technology, e.g., spatial transcriptomics, could provide more insight and a deeper understanding of the pathophysiology of gliomas.

Keywords: Ethylnitrosourea, glioma, gliogenesis, calorie restriction, spatial transcriptomics